Mehbooba Mufti Arrested In Srinagar

2 June 2009The Indian Express

Srinagar: The President of the opposition PDP, Mehbooba Mufti along with a dozen sitting legislators and party leaders were taken into preventive custody. A day after J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ordered a judicial probe into the mysterious death of two women in south Kashmir, the President of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti along with a dozen sitting legislators and party leaders were taken into preventive custody when she led a protest march against the killings. The PDP leaders were demanding action against the guilty who were responsible for the killing of two women in Shopian. Shouting slogans ‘punish the guilty’ and ‘revoke the AFSPA’ the PDP leaders took the march from their party headquarters this afternoon. The PDP leaders were escorted by a large number of police and paramilitary CRPF. When the PDP leaders were marching back towards the party headquarters, the police stopped them and they were taken into preventive custody. The PDP leaders were lodged in the Kotibagh Police station. Those arrested besides Mehbooba included MLA’s Iftiqaar Hussain Ansari, Abdul Rehman Veeri, Sartaj Madani, Bashaarat Bukari, Nizam Din Bhat, Abdul Haq, Rafi Ahmed Mir, Mushtaq Ahmed Shah, Abdul Razak Zawoora and Zahoor Ahmed Mir. “We will continue our protest unless the guilty are not brought to book,” legislator Rehman Veeri said. After the mysterious death of two women in south Kashmir on Saturday, over 100 people have been wounded in clashes between police and protesters in various parts of the valley. The authorities have imposed undeclared curfew in Srinagar today to avoid any escalation of violent protests. The residents in Shopian town allege that the two women, Nilofar Jan, 22, and her niece, Asiya Jan, 17 were allegedly abducted, raped and killed by security forces on Friday. Their bodies were recovered from a stream in the town. Since Saturday the valley is seething in anger over the mysterious killings of the two women.